Seven Selected for Blugold Hall of Fame

Aug 29, 2011

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - Four athletes who participated
on four consecutive conference championship teams during their
careers are among seven athletes selected for induction into the
UW-Eau Claire Blugold Hall of Fame next month.

This group represents the 35th class of men's inductees and the
22nd class of women's inductees and brings the number of athletes,
coaches and administrators who have been honored to 187.

The Blugold Hall of Fame was established in 1973 to pay tribute,
give deserved recognition and enhance school tradition by honoring
former athletic letterwinners, coaches or administrators who showed
distinctive, unique or exceptional ability while on the campus at
Eau Claire and have distinguished themselves in their profession or
personally since leaving the institution.

For women athletes, there must be a lapse of 12 years from their
final season of eligibility before they can be considered for
induction and for men 15 years.

The class will be recognized at halftime of the football game
vs. UW-River Falls Saturday, September 24 and inducted that night
during a banquet in the Council Fire Room of the W. R. Davies
Center on campus. A social hour will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the
dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the program at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the
banquet, which will also include presentation of the 2010-11
Blugold Super Six Salute award winners and several other
recognitions, are $25 and can be obtained by contacting the UW-Eau
Claire Alumni Association at (715) 836-3266 or larsojan@uwec.edu. WQOW TV 18 sports
director Bob Bradovich will present the 2011 Hall of Fame
inductees.

Brennan won seven out of eight conference diving titles during
his Blugold career and was runner-up to a teammate the only time he
did not win. He also had four top four finishes at nationals
including a second on the 1-meter board in 1978. Drozdowicz won
nine individual conference titles and was on 12 gold-medal winning
relay teams. She was a seven-time NCAA first team All-American with
her best finish being a fourth in the 100 freestyle in 1995. Nesbit
was a two-time conference singles champion and three-time
conference doubles champion and participated in three NAIA national
tournaments. Coenen was a two-time All-Conference player for Ken
Anderson's powerhouse teams of the late 70s and early 80s and
played on four NAIA tournament teams. All four of those inductees
were on teams that grabbed four straight conference
championships.

Roth was an outstanding all-around athlete, winning the
conference indoor pentathlon title three consecutive years. She
also won the outdoor javelin crown twice. She was a three-time
All-American, placing in the top eight in the javelin, high jump
and heptathlon. Furrer and Jilek both came to Eau Claire for
football as their primary sport but made their mark with the
Blugold baseball team. Furrer started 16 of 20 games as a defensive
back during his freshman and sophomore football seasons for Coach
Link Walker but left the school with most of the school's offensive
records in baseball. Jilek played three years as a linebacker on
Jim Lind and Greg Polnasek-coached football teams and then played
on the two winningest baseball teams in school history and ranks
among the school leaders in most offensive categories. He was a
two-time All-WSUC pick as well as an NAIA All-Area IV selection and
an NCAA All-Region first team honoree for coach Craig Walter.

Coenen is currently a business teacher in the Pulaski school
system near Green Bay. Nesbit teaches physical education and
coaches the men's and women's tennis teams at St. Olaf College.
Jilek is a physical education instructor at Hudson High School as
well as owning and operating a Safety & Respect Driving School
in Hudson. Roth is a geophysicist for Esso Australia Pty. Ltd.,
working in Melbourne, Australia. Brennan is Vice-President for
sales & marketing for Arlington Industries in Waukegan,
Illinois. Furrer is a Senior Financial Advisor for M&I Bank in
Menomonee Falls and a basketball official for the WIAA and WIAC.
Drozdowicz is currently Director of Operations for the School of
Health & Natural Sciences at Dominican University in San
Rafael, California, transitioning to a new career as an elementary
school teacher after obtaining her teaching credential this past
spring.

Jim Brennan

Brennan, who prepped at Notre Dame High School in Niles, Illinois,
competed on the 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981 Tom Prior-coached swim
teams that not only won four WSUC crowns but placed second twice,
sixth and fourth in the NAIA Nationals. Besides winning seven
conference titles in four years, Brennan set WIAC records in 1979
and 1980 and was voted NAIA District 14 Swimmer/Diver of the year
in 1980. As a four-year All-American, he finished second on the
one-meter board in 1978 and third on the three-meter board in 1980
while accumulating eight top 12 finishes at the NAIA national meet.
He was a three-year captain and Blugold team most improved once and
team MVP once. His Blugold diving coaches were Prior, Jo Casey and
Bob Clotworthy.

After earning his bachelor's degree in business administration
in 1981, he worked 13 years in Chicago for IBM as an advisory
marketing representative, area staff representative and marketing
manager in General Business and Higher Education. After one year as
product manager at Systems Group, Inc. in Schaumburg, IL; Lexmark
International, Inc. was his next stop for 15 years, serving as
District Sales Manager, Systems Engineering Regional Manager,
Director Software Alliances, Director of Practice Development and
Director of Systems Engineering-US. Over his career he has been
recognized for his ability to successfully develop and build high
performance teams.

Jim has worked with the local community Adventure Guides youth
organization and for the past 15 years has coached age group soccer
and basketball for the Spring Lake Sports League.

Brennan and his wife Erin have three sons: Logan, age 20;
Connery, 19; and Case, 12.

Bob Coenen

Bob Coenen, who prepped at De Pere High School, was a member of
four Blugold teams that combined for a 109-22 record during the
period from 1979 to 1982. They were 54-8 in conference play during
that time. The Blugolds advanced to the NAIA Nationals all four
seasons, going 10-5 in national tourney play and reaching the Final
Four in 1980 and 1981. The 6-foot-8 power forward started 66
consecutive games his junior and senior seasons, averaging 10.2
points and 8.2 rebounds per game with 90 blocked shots, 55 steals
and 169 assists. His 127 games played for his career is tied for
the third best in school history, trailing the 131 games played by
Tony Carr and the 130 games of Mike Prasher. He served as team
captain his senior season. He also signed with the Milwaukee Bucks
in 1982 but did not make the final roster.

Coenen spent two years as a business education teacher, freshmen
boys basketball coach and track coach at Antigo High School before
heading to Chippewa Falls High School where he served as a business
teacher and varsity boys basketball head coach for 12 years. He has
been at Pulaski High School since 1997, serving the first eight as
the boys varsity head coach and the past six years as advisor for
the Future Business Leaders of America. In 2005, he had the
privilege of serving as head coach in the Wisconsin boys basketball
All-Star game. For the past five years, he has coached the Pulaski
Purple Aces girls club team.

He and his wife Jackie, who was a Blugold dance team member
while attending the university and is a fifth grade teacher in
Pulaski, have two daughters – Brooke, age 20; and Megan,
17.

John Furrer

John Furrer, who prepped at Janesville Craig High School, played
two years for Glenn Meidl and two years for Steve Carson on the
Blugold baseball teams of 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983. He was a
two-time All-Conference pick as well as the team MVP in 1983. He
broke the school single season home run record in back to back
seasons with eight in 1982 and 10 in 1983. Furrer led an assault on
the school single season record book in 1983 by setting new
standards for at bats (114), hits (46), RBI (37), doubles (10) and
home runs (10). His .404 batting average was the second best in
school history and he finished the season with a .754 slugging
percentage. The 16-14 record in '83 was the first winning record in
a dozen years and the most wins by a Blugold baseball team in a
season at that time. Furrer batted .318 in 116 career games with 21
home runs and 24 doubles for a .558 slugging percentage. He also
stole 37 bases in 45 attempts.

Following his UWEC graduation in 1983 with a bachelor's degree
in marketing, Furrer attended Western Illinois University for
advanced studies in Sports Management. Following an internship with
the Tucson Toros, he was hired by the Chicago White Sox and spent
nine years with the major league team, leaving in 1994 as the
Director of Group Sales and Private Party Sales.

He joined Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company for five
years as an insurance agent, dealing in life and disability
insurance and annuities.

In December, 1999, he began work for his current employer,
Marshall and Ilsley Bank.

Outside of his work responsibilities, Furrer has spent his
career coaching baseball and officiating basketball as well as
utilizing his business capabilities in community service. He has
been a member of the Menomonee Falls Optimist Club for 10 years; is
a past board member of the Menomonee Falls Leadership Foundation;
has been a coach, board member and treasurer for the Menomonee
Falls Falcons select baseball program; has been a board member and
treasurer of the Menomonee Falls Youth Basketball Association, has
been a board member of the Menomonee Falls High School Scholarship
Foundation and is a past member of the WIAA Officials Advisory
Board.

Furrer has been a WIAC basketball official since 1998, working
the conference championships in 2008 and 2011. He has also done
three NCAA Division III sweet 16 games. He has officiated five WIAA
state tournament games including three state championship games. He
worked the 2002 girls' Division I state championship game between
Hudson and Waukesha South with his father.

In 2009, Furrer was honored with the Menomonee Falls Friend of
Education Award for his volunteer work with youth activities in the
village as well as presentations to high school classes on money
management and teaching in the local Junior Achievement
program.

Furrer and his wife Cheri, a teacher's aide in the Menomonee
Falls School District, have two sons, Ryan, age 19; and Michael,
17.

Craig Jilek

Craig Jilek, who prepped at Glenwood City High School where he was
All-State in football, basketball and baseball, set most of the
Blugold career offensive records while playing for Craig Walter in
1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994. He owns the marks for career home runs
(28), RBI (135), hits (177) and runs (104) while sporting the
second best batting average at .388. His .462 average in 1993 is
second best in school history and was also seventh in NCAA Division
III nationally that year.

Jilek played on the two winningest teams in Blugold history as
the 1992 squad was 28-17 and the 1994 team was 28-11. During his
career, the Blugolds fashioned an 88-69 mark and were 45-16 in
conference play, twice winning the Northern Division title and
finishing second once. Jilek was a two-time All-Conference
selection as well as a two-time NAIA All-District 14 pick. He was
the District 14 player of the year in 1993 and the WSUC Northern
Division player of the year in 1994. He was named to the NAIA
All-Area IV team in 1993 and the NCAA All-Region first team in
1994. Twice he was the Blugold team MVP and once the team Rookie of
the Year.

Jilek continued his career with the Eau Claire Cavaliers,
earning team Rookie of the Year honors in 1992 and team MVP in 1995
when he set a club single season home run record with 36. He was
founder and instructor of the Cavaliers' Youth Baseball Camps from
1993-96 and was named the Eau Claire Male Athlete of the Year in
1996 by the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.

After graduating from UWEC with a kinesiology degree in 1995,
Jilek spent two years in the Eau Claire School district. He was the
Memorial High School JV baseball coach both years. He has been in
the Hudson school district since 1997 as a physical education
teacher. He also served four years as the varsity baseball coach
after one year as an assistant. He was the varsity football head
coach for three years after three years as an assistant.

Jilek spent the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons as an assistant
coach to Dale Varsho with the Eau Claire Express baseball team of
the Northwoods League.

Jilek and his wife Carrie, a National Account Manager, have
three children: Will, age 12; Nick, 8; and Delanie, 6.

Scott Nesbit

Scott Nesbit, who prepped at Edina East High School, was the
Blugold Scholar-Athlete Award winner in 1978, at a time when only
one student-athlete was picked for the entire program each year. He
was also an NAIA Academic All-American tennis award recipient that
year.

Nesbit contributed to the four consecutive conference tennis
championships by winning the No. 2 singles championship as both a
sophomore and junior. He also was the No. 3 doubles champ as a
freshman and the No. 1 doubles champ as both a sophomore and a
senior. He compiled career records of 71-35 in singles play and
70-34 in doubles competition. Three times, he was named to the NAIA
All-District 14 tennis team.

The Blugolds also won the NAIA District 14 championship three
times, advancing to the NAIA nationals in Kansas City, Missouri
where they placed 15th, 16th and 14th. During his four years on the
varsity, the Blugolds amassed a 50-24 dual meet record.

After graduating from UWEC in 1979 with a history major and
coaching minor, Nesbit began his teaching and coaching career at
Chapel Hill Academy in Deephaven, Minnesota. He spent five years
there before moving to the Chicago area where he taught and coached
for five more years. During that time he earned his master's degree
in sports administration at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He
also coached women's tennis at Wheaton College for two years and
men's tennis at North Central College for one season. He also was a
tennis instructor at four different racquet clubs.

In 1989, he took his current position of physical education
instructor and men's and women's tennis coach at St. Olaf College
in Northfield, Minnesota. He has coached over 800 men's and women's
matches there, winning nearly two-thirds of them. He was the
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year
four times.

He continues to play in United States Tennis Association
individual and team tournaments, which he has been doing since 1973
and was a ranked player from 1973-80 and 1992-95. He also still
works as a tennis clinician and instructor at various clinics and
camps.

Nesbit has served as a chapel speaker at St. Olaf since 1990 and
as the faculty advisor for the Fellowship of Christian Oles Group
since 1989. He also has been actively involved in his church as an
adult Sunday School teacher and outreach board member. Nesbit is an
expert in fly tying and fly fishing and recently has become
involved in a local stream restoration project.

Nesbit and his wife Elaine have two daughters: Kate, age 21; and
Stina, 19.

Shelly Roth

Shelly Roth, who prepped at Appleton West High School and was a
state tournament participant in volleyball, basketball and track
& field, was a major points contributor for the Blugold track
teams in 1992, 1993 and 1994. In addition to winning the indoor
pentathlon three consecutive years and the javelin as both a junior
and senior, Roth had nine other top six conference finishes in the
pentathlon, heptathlon, high jump, triple jump and long jump. She
qualified for nationals six times including the outdoor heptathlon
in 1992 and 1994. She set the school record in the pentathlon at
the 1994 WWIAC indoor meet.

Roth received the team Most Dedicated Award in 1993 and the Most
Valuable Field Award in 1994. She was also a Super Six winner in
1994.

Roth graduated from UWEC with a geology degree in 1995 and
earned her master's degree in geology from the University of New
Orleans in 1999. She spent the summers of 1996, 1997 and 1998
interning as a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and Mobil
Exploration & Production U.S.

From 1999-2001, she was a geophysicist with Mobil Exploration
& Production U.S. in New Orleans; then became a exploration
geophysicist with ExxonMobil Exploration Company of Houston, Texas.
Since 2007, she has been a senior exploration geophysicist with
Esso Australia Pty. Ltd. in Melbourne.

While working for ExxonMobil in Houston, Roth played linebacker
for the Houston Energy, formerly of the Women's Professional
Football League, from 2000-05. The team won three consecutive WPFL
championships form 2000-02.

Sara (Shimanski) Drozdowicz

Sara Drozdowicz, who prepped at Hutchinson High School in
Minnesota, is the only conference female swimmer to have won four
consecutive 100-yard freestyle events. She also won the 200 free
three straight years and the 50 free twice. In addition, she was a
member of 12 championship relays. When she left Eau Claire, she had
her name etched on the school record book for the 50, 100 and 200
freestyle plus the 200 and 400 freestyle relays and the 200 and 400
medley relays. Drozdowicz was named team Most Valuable swimmer all
four years at Eau Claire.

Drozdowicz was a seven-time first team All-American with three
top eight individual finishes. Her best was a fourth in the 100
freestyle at the 1995 NCAA Division III championships when the
Blugolds placed sixth as a team. She was also honorable mention
All-American with seven places between 9th and 16th place including
five individual events.

Drozdowicz graduated from UWEC in 1997 with a political science
major and history minor. She obtained her teaching credential this
spring and expects to complete her master's in Curriculum and
Instruction next May.

She was a logistics coordinator for Marilyn Burns Education
Associates in Sausalito, California from 1998 to 2000. From 2000
until the present, she has been serving as the Director of
Operations for the School of Health & Natural Sciences at
Dominican University. She was a recipient of the 2005 Sr. George de
Lorimier Award which is given annually to an outstanding Dominican
University of California staff member for dedication and service to
the campus community. Next fall, she will transition careers to
become a classroom teacher in Napa.

Drozdowicz and her husband Dominic, a fellow Blugold swimmer and
now a Cellar Master at Hall Wines in St. Helena, California, have
two sons: Adam, age 5 and Henry, 3.